Thursday, April 26, 2018

FoodCorps Michigan Program Coordinator position is open!

FoodCorps believes every school should be a healthy school and every child – regardless of race, place or class – deserves to be well nourished and ready to learn. In underserved communities across the country, our AmeriCorps leaders teach students about healthy food through hands-on lessons, partner with farmers and food service workers to create nutritious and delicious school meals, and collaborate with communities to ensure a long-term culture of health. Building on this foundation of direct impact, FoodCorps pursues systemic strategies that will benefit all of our nation’s 100,000 schools.

What We’re Looking For:

FoodCorps seeks a motivated and passionate individual to lead, coach, and support a cohort of 15+ FoodCorps service members and FoodCorps programming in Michigan under the direction of the Michigan Program Director. The Program Coordinator will play a critical role in the delivery of high quality, high fidelity programming statewide by assisting with the training and ongoing coaching to service members, the selection and management of service sites, and the day-to-day program administration tasks. They will have experience leading young teams and be excited to support new, pre-professional leaders. This newly created position will help to establish the FoodCorps Michigan field office and will help to guide the program in Michigan through many changes. The ability to learn, adapt, and work through ambiguity will be important in this role! Successful candidates will be mission-driven with a passion for national service.

This full time position will be based in the FoodCorps Michigan field office and will require frequent in-state and occasional out of state travel.

Who You Are:

You are passionate about FoodCorps’ mission, and excited about the prospect of coaching and supporting emerging leaders to implement high quality programs in schools across the state. You have a commitment to diversity and inclusion with a desire to work for health equity and social and racial justice. You are a creative problem-solver with demonstrated leadership ability who is adept at coaching and supporting diverse individuals, both in person and remotely. You are thoughtful and compassionate, with the ability to handle technical, personal, and interpersonal challenges—professionally and with care. You approach challenges with a solutions-oriented perspective. You have impeccable attention to detail and thrive in a deadline driven environment. You thoroughly complete tasks assigned to you and are able to seamlessly manage multiple projects at the same time. You are known for your enthusiasm as well as your “no task too small” attitude, which is necessary for our fast-growing, creative, entrepreneurial organization. You are comfortable with ambiguity and eager to collaborate with FoodCorps as we build a high impact service program nation-wide.

Primary Responsibilities:

Service Member Training, Management, and Support

Building and leading a statewide cohort and network of service members

Serving as the first point of contact in the state field office for the service member cohort, providing technical assistance with service activities, offering advice on personal challenges, and coaching to achieve programmatic quality and fidelity

Developing strong relationships with site supervisors and school contacts to ensure service members receive appropriate direction and support at the site and school levels

Collaborating with the Program Director to plan state orientation and monthly formal or informal trainings and gatherings for service members during the program year. They will identify and fill gaps in training to ensure members thrive in their service.

Supporting the implementation of strong local recruitment strategies and practices, and managing the service member selection process in partnership with the Program Director and service sites.

Program Management and Administration

Conducting a minimum of 2 in-person site visits with each service member in the state to observe programming, deliver feedback, support improvements, and celebrate successes

Ensuring that FoodCorps, service members, service sites, and schools are meeting FoodCorps and AmeriCorps compliance requirements

Using data related to program quality, compliance, and satisfaction to drive communication and programmatic adjustments

Acting as the liaison between FoodCorps and service members in the state, facilitating information-sharing between these parties, including communicating key program requirements to service members and communicating requests from service members to FoodCorps

Supporting the Program Director with the cultivation of new service site partnerships, and evaluating the alignment of existing sites.

Providing the Program Director and national team with current data and input regarding best practices based on knowledge gained through the observation of program activities and impact.

Supporting the planning and implementation of site visits with potential donors Michigan and beyond

Support the planning and delivery of training for service site supervisors.

Identify and plan opportunities for engaging local FoodCorps alumni throughout the year where appropriate.

Providing additional administrative and operational support as needed and requested by the Program Director.

Organizational Support

Supporting FoodCorps program implementation through research and evaluation, professional development, recruitment, and fundraising and policy initiatives as needed and requested

Participating in the development and implementation of national training events

Helping to develop and identify effective initiatives and examples of exemplary partnerships in the state for replication elsewhere

Acting as an outstanding public spokesperson and representative on behalf of FoodCorps through earned media and social media outreach, special events, recruitment efforts, and other opportunities

Skills of the Ideal Candidate:

A self-starter, with ability to collaborate and build strong rapport with team members both in-person and remotely

Previous experience leading and coaching groups of volunteers

Experience managing ongoing deliverables and project deadlines

Skilled at developing and managing relationships across varied stakeholders, including service members, service site partners, and school administrators

Ability to plan and facilitate high quality trainings and other professional learning experiences

Ability to take direction, manage up, and manage horizontally

Effective verbal and written communication skills, with strong interpersonal acumen

Comfort and competence in working with people from a diversity of backgrounds

Comfort using online and social media platforms for communication, organization, and collaboration

Knowledge of FoodCorps or other national service programs and/or familiarity with school or district contexts, and/or farm to school, garden, or nutrition education programming is preferred

How to Apply:

Applications will be accepted until our ideal candidate is identified. To be considered, submit your résumé, cover letter and salary requirements through our hiring site at http://foodcorps.hiringthing.com/ .

FoodCorps pays salaries that are competitive with nonprofits of our budget size and geographic location, and offers generous vacation and medical benefits, 401(k) matching, professional development funds and a sabbatical policy. This position is a Coordinator-level role with an annual salary range beginning at $31,000.00/yr.

People of color, people with disabilities, veterans and LGBTQ candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. FoodCorps is committed to a diverse workplace, and to supporting our staff with ongoing career development opportunities. FoodCorps is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its employment decisions. FoodCorps provides reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees as required by law. Applicants with disabilities may request reasonable accommodation at any point in the employment process.

MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer. Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, religion, age, height, weight, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, family status or veteran status.